United States v. Brown
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
548 F.2d 1194 (5th Cir. 1977)
Charged with preparing fraudulent income tax returns, Brown (defendant) faced testimony from IRS agent Peacock that between 90 and 95 percent of the 160 returns he prepared contained substantially overstated itemized deductions, testimony Peacock based on her conversations with each audited taxpayer confirming the deductions were inflated; the trial judge admitted this testimony, Brown was convicted, and he appealed, arguing the testimony constituted inadmissible hearsay.
Whether an IRS agent's testimony that tax returns contained overstated deductions, based on out-of-court conversations with the audited taxpayers confirming the overstatements, constitutes inadmissible hearsay.